Review: Paper Thin Walls/Abraham Werewolf

A young writer can hear the arguments of the couple who lives next door through the cheap drywall. After an especially boisterous fight, he goes next door to comfort the girlfriend, who soon discovers that the writer has been using their fights as fodder for his fiction. From this point on in Abraham Werewolf’s premiere of “Paper Thin Walls, ” by company member Jack McDonald, cliché-addled writer (Cardigan, check. Jazz LPs, check. Electric typewriter, check.), deluded muse and jealous boyfriend converge to manipulate each other to further their own selfish ambitions. Unfortunately, this play fails to make the creative process dramatically engaging. The actors do their best with overlong conversations that have no drive and sudden acts of sex and violence that come out of nowhere. John Holt’s set, positioned between a sort of alley seating configuration, would be a revelation if only director Matt Hook’s use of it weren’t so uninspired. Not to be too harsh on such a young company, but their play could have benefited from a few more discerning hours in the typewriter. (Neal Ryan Shaw)

Abraham Werewolf at the Viaduct Theatre, 3111 North Western, (773)296-6024, through June 20.